I was given a modded Realistic Pro 2006, what kinds of things can I do with it

[ay00]

Okay, long story short, I've come into possession of what I think is a police radio scanner. I've always been really interested in ham and shortwave radio. I bought a crappy shortwave radio for $30 from Radio Shack when I was in grade 10 but couldn't pick anything up so I brought it back because I didn't have more money or the patience to invest in the hobby.

All the same, from a cursory Google search, here's what I've been able to figure out:

I was able to pick up a local ham radio signal (KE8HR) as well as what I've deemed "car radio" (radio stations you can listen to in your car)

It could pick up police/fire radio however the police radio in my city is encrypted. I live in a border town next to Detroit but I haven't been able to figure out whether their (the D's) radios are encrypted or I just don't have the antenna for it.

It picks up airport ATIS signals although extremely faintly (I used to play alot of Flight Simulator so that was one of the first things I tried).

It's "modded" for a computer and these are the connections for it (http://i.imgur.com/Wb50VOnh.jpg, one is for an external speaker) and the person who used to use this was able to pick up cell phone conversations ~15+ years ago, (using a computer?)

I have a couple of antenna options:
Something similar to this piece of work (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iH0DuB_RFg...tv-antenna.jpg) . This is the coax from it that I jimmied (http://i.imgur.com/EB3cNhbh.jpg) into this socket type thing that attaches to the radio (a BNF connector?)

This antenna (http://i.imgur.com/geSHUPyh.jpg) that I grabbed from my boss but he's not sure whether it went with the radio or not.
Let's assume that I'm content with just receiving

Where would I get started even reading wise (aside from the manual) in order to start working with this thing. I'm not even sure what I have here. Can this pick up shortwave signals as well as ham? I read that you could even pick up the ISS? What kind of antenna would I need to pick up signals from other countries or even a number station (I know they rarely broadcast anymore but still)? Am I even close to doing that with this receiver?

I'm a beginner in this field but I've always had the interest to learn, can anyone help me out?
Here's an album of the receiver and the antenna "hook up" I have going right now Realistic Pro 2006 - Imgur

[ay00]

I should also add that as of last night I had some small success in receiving and decoding ACARS messages. That was pretty cool.

[wtp]

no it does not get shortwave if i remember it starts at 25 mhz (ok that is like the top of shortwave)
you can probably hear the iss if it is overhead (in sight) but they have to be broadcasting
even with a 6 inch antenna on my radio i have heard the iss talking to school kids and the packet noise (brap)
AMSAT-NA | The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation has a program to see where the iss is and then try

145.8 fm for voice (rare)
145.825 fm for packet

nasa also has a program to see where it is google "hsf nasa" and see the orbital tracker
that red line means where you can "hear" them from
ok one subject down

[WB4CS]

Here is the owner's manual for that scanner:
RadioShack PRO-2006 Programmable Scanner (200-0145)

It looks like it is not a Trunking capable scanner, so you will only be able to receive analog, convential signals (no digital, no trunked systems.) Depending on what systems Public Safety (Police, Fire, etc) in your area use this could mean the difference from picking up everything to picking up nothing. Search Radio Reference database for frequencies in your area to determine what you'll be able to pick up.

As someone else already stated, no it does not pick up shortwave radio broadcasts. You would be able to receive ham radio in the 10 meter (28-29.7 MHz) 6 meter (50-54 MHz) 2 meter (144-148 MHz) 1.25 meter (222-225 MHz) 70cm (420-250 MHz) 33cm (902-928 MHz) and 23cm (1240-1300 MHz). To pick up shortwave (numbers stations, foreign programming, etc) you'll need a receiver that can cover from 150 Khz to 30 MHz. This scanner receives from 25-1300 MHz (with some breaks in coverage.)


Hope this helps out some!

[N8IAA]

You've got one of the best conventional scanners ever made. You will have no problem listening to the ISS, lots of military aircraft comms in the 225-380MHz range (AM mode), lots of civilian VHF aircraft, ham radio as mentioned in the 10m-1.2GHz ranges.
Unfortunately, your city is on a P-25 digital trunked system. The PD is Encrypted, and the FD is just Digital. Just experiment. You'll be surprised at all you can hear I truly wish I had one of my two that were sold years ago
HTH,
Larry

[wtp]

AMSAT - Satellite Tracking
i think this one is faster

[rafdav]

the PRO-2006 was THE scanner in it's day. It could be modified several different ways, and yes it would receive the famous cell phones then. You've got a treasure there and as mentioned, give it some serious listening and you'll still be amazed at how well it works!
GRE also made the 'Super Converter 9001' that worked with the 2006. That toy brought in the cell phone chatter without having to modify the scanner.

[ay00]

Originally Posted by rafdav

the PRO-2006 was THE scanner in it's day. It could be modified several different ways, and yes it would receive the famous cell phones then. You've got a treasure there and as mentioned, give it some serious listening and you'll still be amazed at how well it works!
GRE also made the 'Super Converter 9001' that worked with the 2006. That toy brought in the cell phone chatter without having to modify the scanner.

I found out today that it has a "DDI Board" in it. What does that mean?

[nd5y]

I use a PRO-2006 with a discriminator tap to run Unitrunker and DSD. It has much, much better sensitivity on UHF and 800 MHz than ny BCD396T.

[ay00]

nd5y,

I think mine might be discriminator tapped. I know it has a DDI board in it, I'm still trying to figure out if that's the same thing but so far none of my posts show up because I'm still a new member, I really hope you see this, it would help so much.

[DickH]

Since you are near the Great Lakes you should be able to hear marine freqs. (large ships & recreational boats).

[Comint]

Originally Posted by ay00

I found out today that it has a "DDI Board" in it. What does that mean?

The "DDI board" allowed a Digital Data Interpreter Test Set to be connected to the Radio Shack 200x range of scanners.

Other radios, such as the ICOMs 7000, 7100, and 9000, and AORs 2500, and 3000A could also be used with the Test Set.

The DDI was mainly for monitoring the "Control Channel" data of early Cellular Telephone systems (early 90s). The "DDI board" was simply a 74HC157 quad bit 2-input data selector which switched between the external control, and normal operation of the scanner.

--
Comint

[krokus]

All public safety for Detroit has been on the state's digital trunking system (MPSCS), for a few years. Much of Wayne County is transitioning to that same system, and most of the rest are on another trunking system.

You will be able to hear some fire department tone-outs, and some dispatcher-side transmissions.

You can listen to MPSCS with your scanner, but only utilizing a computer program called DSD. The program would control your scanner, and recover audio from the digital data, via the discriminator tap.

[bear780ks]

Originally Posted by N8IAA

You've got one of the best conventional scanners ever made. You will have no problem listening to the ISS, lots of military aircraft comms in the 225-380MHz range (AM mode), lots of civilian VHF aircraft, ham radio as mentioned in the 10m-1.2GHz ranges.
Unfortunately, your city is on a P-25 digital trunked system. The PD is Encrypted, and the FD is just Digital. Just experiment. You'll be surprised at all you can hear I truly wish I had one of my two that were sold years ago
HTH,
Larry

A good friend of Mine that is Scanning up "N" the Heaven's Now had one of these Great Radios i was so upset when i couldn't get one when he got his the old fart even had to kid me a little when he called me over to Open it up he said hey check what's in this box as you can see i was happy and sad at the same time.

At the time he got his Pro 2006 i had already had a BC 760 & the BC200 an they were great Radios at that time But the Pro 2006 was so Much better it blew smoke up there Butt big time) I was over at his house one Night and witnessed how great it was at Scanning it could scan Multi Agencies Like Horse on Steroids! I could not believe how it kept up with the traffic and all my 760 could do was Wig out. Ra

[ay00]

Okay, so I've figured out that I do not have a discriminator tap but I am going to add it. I'm not too good with electronics so I'm going to call a friend over to do the soldering. I've decided that I'm going to do it with the TP2 method, however is there any advantage to doing it on the IC itself (through pin 9)? Is there anything I should know before doing this? Also, I noticed that the DDI board is directly soldered to pin 4 of the IC...not sure if that means or helps anything...

By the way, I may have access to 2-3 more of these same models if anybody is interested...

[ay00]

BTW, thank you all for your responses. Your helping me make sense out of all of this.

[Comint]

Originally Posted by ay00

I've decided that I'm going to do it with the TP2 method, however is there any advantage to doing it on the IC itself (through pin 9)?

The TP is a direct connection to Pin 9, so No.

Also, I noticed that the DDI board is directly soldered to pin 4 of the IC...not sure if that means or helps anything...

Pin 4 of the 10420 is Vcc (5VDC) so that is where the installer was getting the power from for the DDI board.

If it is a Full install, there should also be a connection to Pin 3 of the 10420.

--
Comint

[ay00]

Hmmm really. I wonder why there was only one cable. That's odd. All the same, I don't know what the DDI board can do for me so is it safe to remove that cable?

Also please tell me if this is correct, I should be going TP2 > 1.2k resistor > 10 uF capacitor > 3.5 mm audio.

Does it matter whether I use a 1/4w resistor or 1/8w? And does the capacitor volt rating matter? I've got one for 16V and one for 50V. I bought a pack of them from The Source/Radio Shack.

[Comint]

Originally Posted by ay00

Also please tell me if this is correct, I should be going TP2 > 1.2k resistor > 10 uF capacitor > 3.5 mm audio.

Most people use a 10 K resistor.

So TP2 > 10K resistor > 3.5 mm audio, with a 2.2 nF capacitor to earth, from the audio end of the 10 K resistor.

The 2.2 nF in conjunction with the 10 K acts as a filter for any remaining 455 kHz on the line.

The series 10 uF capacitor is no longer considered to be necessary.

--
Comint

[ay00]

Originally Posted by Comint

Most people use a 10 K resistor.

So TP2 > 10K resistor > 3.5 mm audio, with a 2.2 nF capacitor to earth, from the audio end of the 10 K resistor.

The 2.2 nF in conjunction with the 10 K acts as a filter for any remaining 455 kHz on the line.

The series 10 uF capacitor is no longer considered to be necessary.

--
Comint

I see...so essentially I have a useless pack of capacitors? I went out today and got a pack of pF type capacitors (they're disc shaped), is there any chance that I can work with those?